Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-04-12
RAILROAD ROBBERS.
Gigantic Steals at Last
Brought to Light.
MANY ARRESTS AT PITTsBURG.
Freight Estimated at Half O Mil.
lion Dollars Stolen in Two
Years by Trainmen.

Associated Press Dispatches to the HERALD
PITTsBURG, Pa, April ll.-Detectives
have unearthed gigantic conspiracy for
robbing the Panhandle company. Nea =
ly half million dollars worth OF freight
is said to have been carried away by the
plunderers and their tools. Most of
the men involved in the plot are con-
ductors and brakemen in the employ of
the road. This morning concerted
raid began on the boarding places and
homes Of the Panhandle railroad en-
ployees-conductor and brakemen-by
a squad composed Of 100 policemen, de.
tectives and constables. At 8 o'clock
this morning forty.fou conductors and
brakemen were locked up in the
county Jail. Early trains from the
west were held in the yard by a dis
play of red signals from the block at
Fourth avenue. The officers boarded
the train knowing the men that were
wanted, and promptly arrested them
and marched them to Jail. No train ar
rived that did not loose one or more men
from it's crew.
All kinds of goods were stolen, includ-
ing sewing machines, guns, revolvers,
cutlery, silverware, cigars, clothing,
liquors, groceries, furniture, in fact,
every imaginable article that can be car
ried on the cars was quietly removed.
The depredations were committed all
along the roads and the losers reside rs
far west as Denver. Agencies were es.
tablished in this city where the stolen
property was taken and then sold, the
money being divided among the crews.
John Hampton, attorney for the Penn
sylvania railroad, was seen this morning.
He said: "These robberies have been
carried on systematically for several
years. The company have long been
aware that there was leakage some
where and as early as September 10Th
they quietly commenced an investiga.
ton. Detectives were placed, on trains
where goods could he watched and the
thieves caught. We had already dis.
covered that the culprits were employees
of the company. In September there
were eighty crews of freight trains on
the Panhandle, coming into Pittsburg.
OF these eighty crews no less than sew
enty.fve were found to be crooked. A
crew consists of conductor, fagman
and two brakesmen.'
"In some cases all the men were in
volved, in others only part. The state.
ment that the engineers aud firemen
were mixed up in the robbery is wrong.
Not single one is involved. The oper-
atiops were all the result Of combina.
tion. Arrangements were carefully made
and each rascal was assigned to his par
ticular part of the work. in much the
same way as q bank robbery is conducted
by professional cracksmen. I do not
know that members Of the combination
were oath.bound or anything of that
kind, but it is certain that thorough
understan ing existed among them and
they acted in concert to cover each 9th.
er's doings. The things which alarmed
us more than anything else was that they
secured large quantities of whisky and
drank it in the cabooscs. Men were cor.
tinually reported drunk on duty, and
the probability of disaster was something
frightful to contemplate.
It is impossible to give the aggregate
value of the property stolen from the
Panhandle, but it is claimed now that it
will not reach three hundred thousand.
The arrests created great excitement
among the railroad employees of this
city. At l o'clock three more arrests
were reported. The men were captured
at the pay car while receiving their
wages This makes total of 76 now in
Jail here, aud it is supposed as many
more have been arrested at other points
along the road. CONSERVATION pre-
walls among the proprietors of
the ''fences," and dens where
the goods were seereted ard sold
The arrests include twelve cor.
ductors and thirty seven brakemen
Seven more arrests have been made.
Nearly 200 warrants are still out. The
mems houses in various parts of the city
were raided to-day and large quantity
of goods was recovered. Every man ar
rested had stolen goods somewhere.
Among the prisoners are several desper.
ate characters who were wanted by the
police for other offences. They were all
armed, and when not taken by surprise
resisted arrest. Numbers everpowered
them, however, and all were safely
lodged in Jail. A special dispatch from
Denison, O.. says officers have arrested
James and w. Collie.
The most important arrest made here
was that of brakeman Young. He called
at the Jail to see one of the prisoners
this morning and was taken. At first he
protested OF his innocence, but finally
admitted he had large lot of stolen
property at his home, and told how the
goods came into his po session. His
confession, it is said will convict thir-
teen crews.
To Jos. Rice, special agent of the
Pennsylvania railroad, and Detective
Gilkison, of this city, is due all the
credit of houi d ng the thieves down. In
an interview Mr.. Rice said: "Two years
ago G decided to dispense with locks
on cars and introduced our present sys-
tenn of seals. The seal, which is lead, is
about the size of tive-cent piece and
one. eighth of an inch thick. The wire
used in connection with it is one six.
teenth iron. There are curls on it to
prevent its being pulled through the
seal. The method of using it is as fol-
lows: The wire is passed through the
seal, then through the rough hasp of the
car doors, then backed through the seal
again, forming an unbroken circle. An
instrument is used to impress the seal.
That in use, say, in Pittsburgis stamped
IT., IF 'a1 and upon upon the The reverse side p 5 Z,
thus indicating that the car is in
tact when it enters the P. G. & s. road.
bound westward. New wires are imbed.
ded ON the same stroke, as the letters are
imprinted. This, being understood, will
give an idea of the inception of the rob-
berry. As near as we can estimate it the
robberies have been going on for two
years. At first there was timidity and
then they daily grew bolder and more
general until just lately every train
was a sufferer. We were puzzled at one
t;r,o ~ tba rohheries as onr ra,,ort.